Speech about ‘beautiful’ 7 October attack was ‘not supportive’ of Hamas, court told

A speech made by a former student accused of supporting Hamas a day after its terrorists entered Israel was “not supportive” of the proscribed organisation and was not intended to be, her lawyer has told a court.

Hanin Barghouthi, 24, is accused of expressing an “opinion or belief” in support of the terror group during a speech at a rally in Brighton on 8 October 2023.

Jurors at Kingston Crown Court have previously been shown footage of the demonstration, in which Barghouthi can be heard telling the crowd that “yesterday was a victory” and was “beautiful and inspiring to see”.

At the same court on Monday, Michael Mansfield KC, representing the defendant, referred to her four-minute speech and said “what she says was not supportive of Hamas, objectively, and it wasn’t intended to be”.

He spoke of the defendant’s reference to “freedom fighters” and said she was speaking about “those amongst the Palestinian population who are fighting for freedom”, adding that this was “not Hamas”.

He discussed her use of the words “beautiful and inspiring to see” and said she was not talking about Hamas but was referring to “a breakout”.

Earlier in the trial, Barghouthi told jurors she had “not known” the full details of what had occurred on 7 October.

She said she had only seen a video of a digger knocking down a wall in Gaza, adding that she “didn’t believe there was more news other than the breakout”.

On Monday, prosecutor Michael Bisgrove said during his closing speech that on October 8, the defendant “knew she was talking about Hamas”.

He told the court: “She was expressing and sharing her support for Hamas and the attack that was carried out the day before.”

Barghouthi, from Brighton, previously pleaded not guilty to a single count of expressing support of a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas.

The trial continues.